Justin peered down at the small speck of brown material that was sitting on the floor of the living room. He raised an eyebrow when his eyes shifted to another piece only mere millimeters away. Finally, he raised his head to see a whole trail leading both to the left and to the right. He then started walking right, into the kitchen, following the trail that led up to Scooter's dog bed.
Sitting on top of the huge pillow, was the puppy with a chewed up shoe sticking out of his mouth. Justin smiled and chuckled lightly. He reached down and pulled it out of his mouth.
"Chris' new shoes. He's not going to be happy about that one." Justin said to himself.
Chris had warned JC numerous times about Scooter's chewing habits and had been getting very frusterated with it. He said that if it happened again, the dog would be kicked out of the house.
Justin quickly looked at the clock and noted that Lance and JC would be getting home from school any minute. He was anxious to show JC the mess that his dumb dog had made. Justin had never really liked Scooter. His grin widened when the back door opened and in the two of them stepped.
"Oh, JC." Justin sang, walking over to them with the shoe behind his back.
"What?" JC inquired. Justin slowly brought the shoe out from behind his back. JC stared at it for a few seconds before his eyes widened.
"That's right. That dumb dog chewed up Chris' new shoes. You might want to think about getting a fish or something. They don't have teeth." Chris and Justin always referred to Scooter as 'that dumb dog'. They would always end up cleaning up after it, taking care of it, and so forth.
JC grabbed what was left of the shoe and started running for Chris' room to see what other damage Scooter had done.
"So how was your day?" Justin asked Lance, the smile on his face never fading.
"Good." Lance said, sadly. Justin furrowed his eyebrows.
"If it was so good than why do you sound so sad? Something happen?" Lance shook his head.
"No, nothing important."
"I didn't ask if anything important happened. I asked if something happened. Apparently something did."
"No, I'm just tired."
"You sure?" Lance nodded. Justin turned his attention back to JC who came back in the room with a frown on his face. "Did it not go OK?"
"Is there any possibility that Chris will just make me pay for the shoes and not get rid of Scooter?" JC said, dropping the chewed up shoe on the floor.
"Why would you want to waste your money on Chris' shoes? I think you'd be at a greater loss if we did keep the dog. You're not ready for the responsibility." Justin said.
"You keep saying that!" JC exclaimed. Justin laughed.
"Because it's true. Who walks it at 5:00 in the morning? Chris. Who fills up its bowl before he goes to school? Justin. Who lets it out in the backyard when it has to pee? Justin. And who provides that dumb dog's chew shoes? Chris." Justin said. He referred to himself in third person. "Let's see, what does JC do? Nothing."
"I do stuff." JC said in his defense.
"What do you do? You love him? Seriously, if that's all you do then its really not your dog." JC glared at Justin. "Don't give me that look. You know what I'm talking about. I wouldn't be suprised if by the end of the week, that dog no longer lives here."
The front door opened, indicating that Chris had come home. All heads, including Lance, who had slumped down in one of the kitchen chairs, turned towards the doorway of the kitchen. Justin smiling and JC frowning.
Chris came into the kitchen and saw all of them staring at him. He started to smile in amusement, but he came across the object that had been discarded onto the empty floor. He scowled.
"Don't tell me, that dumb dog-"
"Don't say anything you're going to regret!" JC cut him off. He scooped up his dog in his arms, holding him protectively.
"I just bought those. You remember why I bought them?" JC shook his head to Chris' question, even though he knew the answer. "Because that dumb dog chewed up the first pair. Those shoes cost fifty dollars. I can't afford to buy, yet again, another pair."
"Maybe it's fate telling you that you don't need those shoes." JC argued.
"Or maybe," Chris started. "it's fate telling me that you don't need this dog. We are selling it." JC's mouth dropped and he followed Chris out of the room.
"No, I don't want to sell it."
"I gave you tons of warnings. And I don't care if you don't want to sell it because what I say goes. I'm sick and tired of having to take care of it when I don't even want it."
"It's not fair!" JC yelled.
"Yeah, well sometimes you can't have everything you want. It's a waste of money and a waste of my time so I'm not dealing with it anymore." Chris started to walk out of the living room and down to his room. JC was about to follow to argue some more, but Justin grabbed his arm.
"You're not going to win so just shut up." Justin said.
"You shut up. It's your fault!" JC said back. Justin's eyes widened.
"How is my fault? Did I dangle the shoe over the dumb dog's head? No. How's it my fault?" JC looked puzzled.
"It just is." JC finally put Scooter down onto the floor. The dog ran back into the kitchen to his bed. "You're supposed to be on my side."
"I can't always be on your side. I really don't like the dog and I'd rather it not be here. This is one thing you have to deal with on your own." Justin explained.
"Do you think Chris would let me keep him if I cried?" JC asked.
"I don't think so. I'm the only softy for crying and I'm not the person in question. Chris won't feel sorry for you." JC glanced into the kitchen at Lance. He had still not moved from his seat at the table.
"What's up with him?" JC asked, softly. "He normally backs me up."
Justin followed JC's gaze into the kitchen. "I think there's something bothering him, but he won't tell me what it is. We'll find out eventually."
The sound of falling pots and pans was loud enough to make Joey flinch. He held his breath as he looked towards the kitchen door, waiting to get in trouble. Sure enough, Chris came running in and looked at Joey with wide eyes.
"What are you doing?" Chris asked.
"I..I," Joey started to fluster at Chris' angry tone. "I was trying to get something and everything fell. I'm sorry." Joey kneeled down to start picking things up.
"JC and Lance are sleeping. You probably woke them up." Chris bent down to help him.
"I'm sorry. I was just trying to get something." Joey repeated.
"Yeah, by the way, what were you trying to get that was in the cabinet with the pots and pans?" Chris said. "I have a feeling that you weren't in the mood to cook. Considering you don't know how to..." Chris trailed off, waiting for an explanation.
"I was trying to get a popcorn bowl."
"A popcorn bowl? Why are you eating popcorn at ten o'clock at night?" Joey shrugged.
"Cause I was hungry." Chris shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Don't give me that look. We got no good food here and I was hungry."
"Forget the popcorn and get some sleep. In case you've forgotten, you do have school tomorrow. And do you really wanna look like crap tomorrow? Considering your social status, I think not."
"What's that suppose to mean?" Joey asked, humorously. "You think I'm popular?"
"No, I think you're unpopular." Joey hit Chris playfully on the arm. Chris turned toward the stairway when he heard footsteps. JC stepped down onto the tile floor, rubbing his eyes. "See, Joey? You woke them up."
"Lance had a bad dream." JC said, tiredly. Joey looked over at Chris and smiled.
"See, I didn't wake them up." Chris hopped up and walked upstairs with JC on his tail. When he entered the room, he looked to the right of the doorway to see Justin sitting on Lance's bed with his arms wrapped around him. He caught of glimpse of Lance's face and saw that he was crying.
Justin noticed his presence and began to get up to let Chris take his place. Chris sat down on the bed and grabbed a tissue from the bedside table and started to wipe Lance's tearstained face. He then wrapped his little brother up in a tight hug.
"He had a dream about Mom." Justin informed him. Chris glanced down at Lance and hugged him tighter. When he brought his head up, he motioned for Justin to leave.
Justin nodded and grabbed JC's hand, leading them both out of the bedroom. Once the door was shut, Chris gently pulled Lance's body out of his lap to look him in the face.
"What happened?" Chris consoled. Lance sniffled softly. "Do you wanna talk about it at all?"
"Do you love me?" Lance asked, suddenly. Chris looked at him, shocked.
"Of course I love you." More tears came to the corners of Lance's green eyes.
"Did Mommy love me?"
"Mommy still does love you. So does Dad. Just because they're not here doesn't mean that they don't love you." Chris used the tissue to wipe away the new tears from his cheeks. "It wasn't their decision to leave us and it certainly doesn't mean that they don't love us."
Chris looked over towards the sound of the creaking door opening. JC came around in front of the two on the bed. He cleared his throat.
"Can I help?" Chris looked down at Lance and then back up at JC. "Please?"
"All right. You want me to leave?" JC nodded silently. Chris sighed and stood up from the bed to leave the room. After Chris left, JC walked over to his bed and picked up a brown stuffed bear. He carried it back over to Lance and held it out to him.
"Here." Lance reached out and took the bear, hesitantly.
"You're letting me sleep with Tet-tet?" JC shook his head.
"I'm letting you have him."
"But why?" Lance questioned. JC sat on the side of the bed as Lance held Tet-tet closer.
"When I was little, I used to have a lot of nightmares. A LOT of nightmares. Mommy told me that she knew exactly how I felt and gave me Tet-tet because when she was little, she had them too. And Grandma bought her that bear to keep her safe. So now, I'm giving him to you."
"Really? I can have him? Forever?" JC nodded.
"As long as you need him." Lance's tears started to dry and he smiled up at JC.
"Thank you." Lance extended his arms and gave JC a hug.
Justin rolled over in bed, groaning. He looked up at Chris' grinning face, and groaned even louder.
"What time is it?" he asked. Chris shrugged.
"Around 5:00. I know you still have another hour to sleep, but I had to tell someone." Justin squinted his eyes to see as Chris continued. "I sold the dog! For two hundred dollars!" Justin shot up.
"You what! Two hundred dollars for that dumb dog?" He smiled with pride. "How did you swing that one?"
"Well, it's not exactly final yet. The guy is suppose to come over later this afternoon to have a look at him. And then he'll give me the money." Justin shook his head.
"But how did you get him to even offer that much? I know you wouldn't have asked for that much."
"He asked me how much and I was about to say like twenty dollars and he offered two hundred. I mean, come on, which would you have taken?" Justin raised his eyebrows. "It's true. He must be rich to expect a dog to cost that much...or that little in his sense."
"When did all of this happen?"
"Like five minutes ago. Odd really, I thought it was gonna take forever to get it gone. Today was the first day in the paper. Hour later, it's sold. I'll let you get back to sleep now."
"Gee, thanks. You really didn't have to wake me up, you know." Justin informed, burying himself back underneath his blankets.
"Well, I thought you'd be interested. And like I said, I couldn't just keep it in, I had to tell someone. That dog has been an annoyance for two months and now it's leaving!" Chris exclaimed.
"Have you thought about how JC is gonna react to this? He'll probably be pretty pissed off at you." Chris shrugged. "Probably won't talk to you for days. You know how stubborn that kid is."
"Yeah, but what else am I suppose to do? My house, my rules. That's just the way it goes."
"Well, you could easily change that by making a rule not to be unfair." Justin said.
"Are you mocking me? Because if I'm not mistaken, you were happy about all of this yesterday."
"Oh no, of course not. I'm behind this decision one hundred percent, I'm just making sure you have backup. Because really, there is plenty you could do to change that fact and let him keep the dog." Justin explained.
"Don't confuse me, Justin. Just shut up."
"Fine, then. Just preparing you for the hell ahead of you. You could at least get him a goldfish or something to replace it."
"I'll think about it." Chris turned towards the door. "I'll let you sleep this time. Really."
"Thank you." Justin sighed and closed his eyes. When Chris stepped outside of Justin's room, he saw Lance sitting out in the hall, clutching JC's bear close to him.
"What are you doing out here?" Lance looked up at the sound of Chris' voice.
"What time is it?"
"Only about five, bud. Why don't you get back into bed?" Lance shook his head. "Why? Did you have another dream?" He shrugged, nonchalantly. "Come on, tell me. I can't help you if you don't tell me." Lance nodded.
"I'm too scared to go back to sleep." Chris' face scrunched up in confusion.
"Why is this hitting you all of a sudden? Mom and Dad have been gone for two years." Lance winced slightly as that was said. "You know they won't come back, don't you?"
"I guess."
"When people die, they're gone forever. You do realize this, don't you?" Lance was silent. "God doesn't really give us much of a warning for when this is gonna happen, but when it does, you have to try and move on. You can't dwell in it forever."
"I'm not!" Lance said, desperately. "I'm trying. I can't help what I dream."
"Well, you need your sleep. Come on," Chris picked Lance up and gently carried him back into his bedroom.
"I don't want to go to sleep." Lance protested, loudly.
"Shhh. Go to sleep, OK? Think happy thoughts and you won't have nightmares."
"That's not true!" Chris put a finger to Lance's lips to hush him. "Mommy wouldn't make me go to sleep. Mommy would stay up with me and take care of me."
"Well, I'm not Mommy!" Chris yelled. He quieted when he realized the volume of his voice. "Please, Lance. I can't do everything that Mom did and even if I could, I could never replace her."
"That a dumb excuse and you know it. You just don't care 'cause you don't love me! You lied!"
"I didn't lie. I do love you and because I love you, I'm trying to get you over this."
"Well, it's not working." Lance pushed passed Chris to get off of his bed. He walked out of the room.
"Lance, where are you going?" Chris followed him into the hallway. Lance opened Justin's door across the hall and went in. Justin sat up and looked at him puzzled as he climbed into bed with him.
"What's going on?" Justin asked, looking from Lance to Chris.
"He doesn't love me!" Lance shouted into Justin's shirt.
"I never said that." Chris objected. Lance turned to Chris in anger.
"But you meant it. You knew that I was scared and you were trying to shove me off to bed so I wouldn't be a problem. You don't care!"
"I do care, and I want to help. You just have to give me time. I don't know what I'm doing, I've never dealt with anything like this before so don't blame me." Chris said. "I'm trying, bud." he said, gently.
Chris watched as Justin carried Lance back to bed. About five minutes later, Justin came back and shut the door to his bedroom.
"What's wrong with me?" Chris looked up at Justin. "I try and get him to sleep and I end up yelling at him. You try and he's in bed in less than a minute. I'm a terrible parent."
"You're not that bad, you just made a mistake. He'll forgive you." Justin said.
"I hope so."
"Look, Chris. The only reason that I'm better at this is because I'm their big brother. They go to me when they want to do something, when they're scared, when they're mad at you. I've been here the whole time, I know them all better. You're like their dad. You're not their big brother anymore."
"Yeah, but I made him feel like I didn't love him. Good parents don't do that." Justin laughed.
"Are you kidding me? Think about how many times you thought Mom and Dad hated you. Because they punished you or because they told you that you couldn't do something. Even something like this where they gave you the cold, hard facts. I know I've had some of those times."
"I guess so." Chris shrugged.
"If you think even harder, Joey's hated you lots of times. And JC's gonna hate you when he finds out you actually did sell the dog. It's not that unexpected that Lance hates you. They all think you hate them too."
"But I don't. And that's the problem."
JC stood on his tiptoes to look through the peephole of the front door. He saw a man in a gray suit with glasses. He unlocked the door and opened it.
"Who are you?" JC asked the man.
"Well, hey there little boy. I'm here to see Chris." The man reached out and ruffled JC's hair.
"I'm eleven. I'm not little." JC shrank back and fixed his hair. "What do you want?"
"Like I said, I'm here to see Chris. He has a dog that I want to buy." JC's eyes widened and he took a step forward.
"I don't think so." He started to close the door, but Chris came and pulled it open.
"JC, go get the dog." JC crossed his arms and glared at Chris. "Seriously, go get it. I'm not in the mood for this." He groaned when JC didn't move. "Fine."
Chris exited to go get Scooter while JC went out on the porch. The man smiled down at JC. JC only frowned.
"Did you know that Scooter isn't properly potty trained yet? And that he chews up just about everything? Are you sure you want him?"
"Oh, I'm well aware of all of that. That's why I'm sending Licorice to obedience school."
"Licorice?" JC asked, dully. Chris came back with Scooter in his hands.
"Will you be paying me cash or check?" Chris said. The man took Scooter from Chris' hands.
"Check, of course." The man looked at Scooter. "Hey there, Licorice. You're so cute, yes you are." he cooed.
"Chris! Don't let him go with that guy!" JC whined. "He's gonna name him Licorice and make him go to school! Please!"
Chris ignored JC's cries. "If you want, I'll sell you all of its accessories for a little extra."
"All right," The man followed Chris inside. JC trailed close behind, still attempting to save his best friend.
"This isn't fair! He won't take care of him, he'll be mean to him!" JC yelled. The man turned to JC, sympathetically. He kneeled down to his eye level.
"I understand how hard it is to have to give up a pet, but before you know it, Licorice will just be a memory in your life and you'll forget all about him." JC sniffled and began wiping at his eyes. "Tell you what, how about you come visit him whenever you want to?"
"No way! Then I'd have to visit you!" JC pushed the man's hands away from him.
"JC!" Chris yelled, as JC ran up the stairs. "I'm sorry." he apologized to the man for JC's behavior.
"It's quite all right. I understand, now how much do I owe you for all of this?"
"Umm...how about two fifty?" The man nodded and quickly wrote the check. He tore it out of his checkbook and handed it to Chris. "Thank you, sir."
"No problem. You want to give me a hand carrying all of this out to my car?"
"Sure." Chris started sticking things on top of Scooter's bed to make it all in one trip.
"Hey Chris, have you seen my-" Joey came into the room and stopped when he saw the man. "Who's he?"
"This is the man who's buying that dumb dog from us." The man stuffed the bed underneath his arm and nodded at Chris.
"I think I can handle it. Thanks again for letting me have him."
"You're welcome." Chris opened the front door for him and closed it behind him. "Now, what was it that you couldn't find?"
"Oh, yeah." Joey said. "My watch, have you seen it anywhere?"
"Nope. Where'd you last see it?"
"I took it off last night and now I can't find it."
"Well, do you really need to know what time it is just this second?" Joey rolled his eyes.
"I don't wear it 'cause I need to know the time; I wear it because it looks good." It was Chris' turn to roll his eyes. "So are you gonna help me find it?"
"I don't have time right now to help you find it."
"You never have time for anything. Including us." Joey shook his head and turned around to look for the watch by himself. Chris groaned loudly.
"What is this? Why is everyone against me?" he said to no one in particular. Distress heavy in his mind, he grabbed his jacket and left the house.
Joey carried a glass of water and two Tylenol in his hand, meeting Justin outside of Lance and JC's bedroom. Justin accepted both, gratefully.
"Thanks." He dropped the pills in his mouth and gulped down some water to swallow them. "I swear, when Chris gets back, I'm gonna hurt him. It's not fair that he's making me do this."
"Where did he go?" Joey asked.
"I don't know. I think he might have gone down to the store. Maybe to talk to Jerry about his 'problem'. He might have just gone out somewhere, though." Justin took another drink of the water.
"What problem?" Joey arched an eyebrow in confusion.
"He thinks he's a bad parent. Personally, I think we're all just having a terrible week. He doesn't believe me, of course."
"Maybe he needs a vacation. You know, by himself. I've heard that those type of things help to relieve stress." Justin chuckled at Joey's comment.
"Yeah, right. I'm not letting him leave me with this again."
"What's going on in there, exactly?"
Justin sighed. "They both refuse to sleep. JC says he's too 'depressed' to sleep and Lance is afraid that he'll have more nightmares. I'm getting such a headache over this. I shouldn't care so much."
"Hey, I wish I could care that much. But you know me, I'm pretty much a selfish person." The front door opened downstairs. "He's home."
Justin walked passed him and marched down the stairs to meet Chris as he was hanging up his jacket.
"Hey Justin." Chris said.
"Don't 'hey Justin' me. You left without telling us where you were going, in fact, you didn't even tell us you were leaving. What if something had happened, would I know where to reach you? No, because you didn't leave a number."
"Sorry, I just needed time to think. I'll let you know next time, I promise." Justin was prepared to yell at him some more, but seeing the look on his brother's face, he just couldn't.
"Are you OK?"
"Yeah, actually. I'm feeling a lot better. Are JC and Lance in bed yet? I wanna talk to them."
"No. They don't wanna sleep."
"Neither of them?" Justin shook his head. "I guess that's my fault. Hopefully, they'll feel just as good as me once I'm done talking to them."
Justin moved so Chris could go upstairs. When Chris reached their bedroom door, he took a deep breath and went in. Both boys were sitting on Lance's bed, talking to each other quietly.
"Hey." Chris said, softly.
"Hi." they said in unison. Chris came into the room and found a spot on the bed to sit down.
"I...uh...I know that in our family, apologizing is something that we do a lot. I try to make it where I rarely have a reason to apologize, but this time I do. I wasn't fair or loving to either of you this last night. And even yesterday too.
"I don't want you to ever think that I don't love you or care about you because I do. The four of you are the most important people in my life and if anything ever happened to you, I would just die.
"And Lance, there's really nothing I can do to help you with your nightmares, if they do occur again tonight, but I can always talk you through them. We can find out why it is that you're dreaming about these things. If you need me then just come get me. I'd love to help."
Lance slightly smiled and glanced at JC before reaching for Tet-tet, lying down on the bed. He now had two protectors.
"And you," Chris started, looking towards JC. JC's smile faded into a look of reluctancy.
"Let me guess, I'm gonna get a lecture." JC said.
"Why would you think that?"
"Because it was my fault that you had to sell Scooter and that I shouldn't be whining and complaining because I lost and I'll never see him again." JC obviously didn't think that was true because of the sarcastic way he said it. "Is that what you were gonna say?"
Chris shook his head. "Nope, not at all. I think it's my fault."
"What?" JC's eyes widened.
"Yeah, because I knew all along that you weren't ready for such a responsibility and yet, I let you keep the dog. You got too attached to it because of me. If I hadn't let you keep it then you wouldn't be hurting as much right now. I brought on your pain, and I feel terrible."
JC opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it in puzzlement.
"Are you sure it's not my fault?" he asked a few seconds later.
"Do you want it to be your fault?"
"Well, no, it's just I'm usually one to blame with stuff like this." JC smiled. "Does this mean that I don't have to apologize this time?"
"For once, yes JC." Chris looked down at Lance who was starting to fall asleep. "Do you wanna go to bed now?"
"I guess so. I still miss Scooter a lot, though."
"I know, it hurts. But think about it this way, you won't have to worry about it...him anymore. You're better off without him." JC shrugged, doubtfully. He stood up from Lance's bed, making his way to his own bed. "Good night."
"Night." Chris shut the light out and left the room.
The next afternoon, Justin and Joey came home from school, surprised to see Chris at home. Normally he was at work.
"Do you even have to work? I mean, you're here all the time so I assume that it doesn't matter." Joey said.
"Shut up. I'm here because I'm expecting someone. How was your day?" Chris asked.
"OK. I'm just happy that it's Friday. I've been waiting all week for this day to come." Joey said.
"I bet you have a date tonight. Is that why you're so happy?" Chris said. Joey nodded. "Better be Mallory. We made a deal."
"It is, it is." Joey rolled his eyes and went into the living room.
"So, what about you? How was your day?" Justin said. He took a seat at the kitchen table.
"Much better than yesterday. I'm pleased with how everything turned out. No one hates me anymore...right?" Justin laughed.
"Right. You do know that Lance had another nightmare last night, don't you?"
"No, I don't. Why didn't he tell me?"
"Well, it's not like he woke me up or anything. We talked about it really briefly this morning. He told me that it wasn't nearly as bad as his last dream, but I think this was the last one."
"I still don't get it. Why didn't he talk to me? I thought we had such a great talk last night."
"I dunno. Maybe I was more convienent or something. Or maybe it's just because he still feels a little uncomfortable talking to you." The doorbell rang. "Who are you expecting?"
"You'll see." Chris stood up and walked to the front door. He opened it, revealing a man holding a dog. The same that came to their house the day before. "Thank you so much, sir. You don't know how much this means to me. Or more to my little brother."
"It's fine. I knew I probably wouldn't get to keep him. I'll have to go to a pet store, instead." The man handed the dog to Chris. "You tore up the check right?"
"I figured you might want it. Just in case you started thinking I didn't tear it up and cashed it anyway." Chris gave him the check he had written.
"Oh thank you. I better be going now, it was nice doing business with you. For a while." Chris smiled and began picking up Scooter's accesories from the porch and carrying them in.
"You wanted it to end happily, didn't you?" Justin's voice entered Chris' ears as he turned around, shutting the door.
"You bet I did. You and me'll just have to teach him how to take care of him. Wanna help me move Scooter back in?" Justin shrugged.
"I guess so." Chris and Justin proceeded in putting everything back where it belonged. About fourty-five minutes later, JC and Lance came running through the kitchen door. They were both in better moods.
JC stopped short when he saw Scooter's dog bed sitting on its usual place on the floor. He looked towards the kitchen entry door where Justin was coming in.
"I hate to say it, JC, but you've won." The sound of Scooter running into the kitchen brought JC's eyes to the floor and he shrieked in happiness as the dog jumped up into his arms.
Chris came in next, happy with the look on JC's face. He walked over to Lance and draped in arm around his shoulders to give him a small hug. Lance smiled back.
Justin shook his head and frowned down at JC. "Aren't you going to say thank you?"
"I've got something better to say." JC said, proudly.
"What's that?" Justin asked. JC walked over to Chris and gave him a hug.
"I love you, Chris."
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